Going to see my new grandson, and the Feed

OK once again I’m working under a time constraint, this time for a more pleasant reason. After Mrs. the Poet gets off work we are going to visit my daughter and grandson in Sanger (well the son-in-law will be there too…). I didn’t go see the grandson while he was in the hospital in Denton because the trip was just too long and not planned far enough in advance for me to get everything buttoned up here before I left. This time is different, I know ahead of time I need to get things wrapped up in the blog before 1600 when Mrs. the Poet gets home from work, because as soon as she gets changed out of her work uniform we are hitting the road to go visit the grandkid.

Up first is a blotter report on why drivers should wait until they can pass safely before trying to pass a bicycle. Monday’s Sentinel police log Second paragraph, someone tried to pass a bicycle on a blind hill crest, there was traffic in the oncoming lane and fortunately the oncoming traffic went off the side of the road instead of hitting the idiot passing a bicycle head on.

More on the TX cyclist hit about a day’s ride east of WoaB World HQ. Lakeport man on bicycle struck, killed by vehicle “A lack of lighting and a practice of riding the bike in rights of way” They mean he was actually riding his bicycle in the road as per TX VC 551.103(a)ii, but he really should have had a reflector on the back of his bike to comply with the law. This still does not relieve the driver of responsibility for the wreck under TX VC 545.351(a) & (b)(1).

A wreck in SoCal severely injures a cyclist. Police investigating Santa Rosa off-ramp crash that injured bicyclist Nothing on the mode of wreck from the article except that it took place in an intersection, a comment with the article made it sound like the cyclist ignored a traffic control device of some kind but I can’t get the street view of that intersection to pull up right now. Actually re-reading that comment somebody ignored a traffic control, but I can’t say for sure it was the cyclist. Anyway intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Still in SoCal a cyclist is hit by a bus. Cyclist Killed After Being Hit by Metro Bus in Malibu At the moment they still don’t know what caused the wreck as the investigators are not tuned to what causes bicycles to fall over. Since the cyclist was riding in the bike lane at the time she fell over it could have been anything in the way of debris that made her fall and the infrastructure did not allow for something like that to happen without dumping her right in front of high-speed traffic. Since the cyclist was already using bike infrastructure and still died, this gets placed in the “get the infrastructure right” bin. More UPDATE: Bicyclist Killed in Crash With Metro Bus

A wreck that I was first alerted to by a Facebook posting from a witness. Endicott Woman Killed While Riding Bike and Woman killed in bicycle accident in Southern Tier The driver was reported to have swerved sharply by a witness report on the Facebook page where I saw the initial report from the person riding immediately behind the cyclist. That person was not hit in spite of only being a few feet behind the victim. That is a very abrupt departure from the road and to me strikes of a deliberate action unless the vehicle’s steering came completely unhooked from the front wheels. Hit-from-behind protocols would not have helped avoid this wreck as there was not enough time to react, and I’m not entirely sure anything in the way of infrastructure short of a Jersey Barrier would have prevented this wreck. If the driver had control over the vehicle (not a mechanical malfunction or medical emergency) then this needs to be charged as a crime, assault at the least, some kind of homicide most likely.

An AZ driver kills and flees… Mesa man arrested after bicyclist is hit, killed The cyclist was hit in the bike lane and the pictures from the wreck show a bike that was pulverized by the impact. This was not a wreck that could have been avoided by the cyclist, and needs to be charged as a homicide. It won’t be, but it needs to be charged as a deliberate attempt to kill the victim. That is among the infrastructure changes that need to be made to prevent wrecks like this.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bicycle for 8 years in a row. Port Richey teen injured when truck hits bike he was riding Alleged red-light running cyclist, again. Intersection protocols to avoid, get the freaking infrastructure right to prevent, again, still, always in FL.

Infrastructure news from Oz. Putting cycling safety on right path Interesting in that helmets were only mentioned in passing, but were mentioned because it’s almost like a law that when you have a bike safety article in Oz you have to mention helmets positively.